Outsourcing to Turkey or building a team in Istanbul: agency vs own team

If you want one to ten developers in Turkey for the long term, hire them yourself through an employer of record (EOR) or as contractors; use an agency only for a fixed project, and your own company and office only for a large team you plan to keep for years. Turkey is on UTC+3 all year and has about 2.5 million GitHub developer accounts.

Checked October 2026. This page is for a US or German founder or hiring manager deciding how to build a team in Turkey. It is general information, not legal or tax advice.

Agency, EOR, contractor or own company: which one should you pick?

Four ways to work with developers in Turkey (checked 7 October 2026)

	Agency (outsourcing)	EOR hire	Contractor	Own company + office
Who employs the developers	The agency	The EOR, in Turkey	Nobody; they invoice you	Your Turkish company
Your monthly cost	Agency rate per person or per project (quote only)	Salary + about 21.75% employer contributions + EOR fee ($459 to $699 list price)	Their invoice	Salary + about 21.75% + accountant + office
Time to start	Days to weeks	Usually days to a few weeks	Days	Weeks to months
Your control over the work	Low to medium; the agency manages people	High; they work only for you	Medium; they are independent	Full
Who you can choose	The agency’s staff	Anyone you find	Anyone with their own tax registration	Anyone you find
Main risk	Staff turnover, you do not own the team	EOR fee adds up as you grow	Misclassification if they act like employees	Setup, compliance and exit cost are yours
Fits	A fixed project with a clear end	1 to about 10 long-term hires	Real freelancers, short or part-time work	A larger team you plan to keep for years

Sources: EOR list prices from Multiplier, Deel and Remote; employer contribution rate from the Ministry of Labour and SGK, worked out on our employer of record page. Agency rates are not in the table because we found no public rate card we could verify; ask for a written quote.

A simple rule: if you want the people to stay when the project ends, do not use an agency. An agency sells you its team’s time. An EOR or a contractor gives you your own team.

When does a Turkish agency make sense?

Use an agency when all of these are true:

• The work has a clear scope and end date, such as a first app version or a rebuild.
• You do not have time to recruit and manage developers yourself.
• You accept paying the agency’s margin for that.

Ask the agency who exactly will work on your project, whether you can interview them, and who owns the code. Get the hourly or monthly rate in writing. Do not compare the agency rate with a salary: compare it with salary plus employer contributions plus the EOR fee.

When should you hire your own developers through an EOR?

When you want a long-term team member who works only for you, and you have no Turkish company. The EOR is the legal employer, runs Turkish payroll, and you manage the daily work. It is the most common route for a first Turkish hire. Costs, providers and questions to ask are on the employer of record in Turkey page. What you pay on top of gross salary is broken down in Turkey payroll and employer cost.

When is a contractor enough?

When the developer really works independently: their own clients, their own hours, billing per project or per month. It is the cheapest and fastest route, but if you set their hours and manage them like staff, Turkish law can treat them as an employee. The line is explained in contractor or employee in Turkey, and the payment side in how to pay freelancers in Turkey.

Many Turkish freelancers who bill foreign clients use the service-export tax deduction, which is one reason contracting is popular with them.

When is your own company and office worth it?

When EOR fees for your whole team cost more each year than running a Turkish company with an accountant, and you plan to stay for years. You then also carry the labour-law risk and the exit cost yourself. Most small teams do not need an office at all; coworking is enough until the team sits together every day.

What do you need to know about time zone, English and the talent pool?

Turkey hiring facts (checked 7 October 2026)

Fact	Figure	Source
Time zone	UTC+3 all year, no clock change	Turkish law since 2016
Hours ahead of Berlin	2 (German winter) / 1 (German summer)	Calculated from UTC+3
Hours ahead of New York	8 (US winter) / 7 (US summer)	Calculated from UTC+3
English level, national	Score 488, 71st of 123 countries (EF EPI 2025)	EF fact sheet, EF EPI
Developer accounts on GitHub	2,544,065 (2026 edition)	GitHub Innovation Graph, figure as compiled by Nations Inquiry
Minimum wage 2026	33,030 TL gross a month	Ministry of Labour

What this means in practice:

• For a German team, Turkey shares most of the working day. Overlap is almost full.
• For a US East Coast team, a Turkish developer’s afternoon overlaps with your morning, about 2 to 3 hours on a normal 9-to-6 day. West Coast overlap is close to none unless someone shifts hours.
• English: the national score is low, but it is an average of the whole adult population. Developers who read documentation and work with foreign clients usually speak much better. Hold the interview in English and include a written task.
• Talent pool: GitHub counts accounts, not working professionals, so read it as a rough scale, not a headcount. For what developers earn, see Turkish developer salaries.

How much does an office or coworking desk cost in Istanbul?

Coworking prices at one central Istanbul operator (checked 7 October 2026, excluding VAT)

Option	Monthly price	Set-up fee	Source
Hot desk, business hours	16,600 TL	2,600 TL	Servcorp Nişantaşı
Dedicated desk, 24/7	21,280 TL	10,000 TL	Servcorp Nişantaşı
Virtual office (address, mail, phone)	2,560 TL	100 TL	Servcorp Nişantaşı

Servcorp is a premium operator in Nişantaşı, so treat these as the upper end. Servcorp’s own city price page showed different figures on the same day, so confirm the price for your location before you sign. We left out other operators because their prices were missing or out of date on their own pages. Private offices are quoted on request.

What should you decide first?

1. How long do you need these people? A fixed project points to an agency. Open-ended work points to your own hires.
2. Will you manage them day to day? If yes, use an EOR (or your own company), not contractors.
3. How many people in two years? One to about ten: EOR. Many more, for years: compare EOR fees with your own company.
4. Where is your team? Germany works well on Turkish hours. The US East Coast needs a planned overlap window.

Then get two EOR quotes and, if you are considering an agency, one written agency quote, and compare total monthly cost per person, not the headline rate. When people are hired, see getting paid in Turkey with Wise, Payoneer or SWIFT for how money reaches Turkish accounts.

No company paid to be listed here. Prices change; we recheck this page monthly.